“They actually moved the timing eye a few meters, so whoever was fastest today would have the track record,” Holcomb said. “I take it with a grain of salt, but it still felt good.”

Today’s win is Holcomb’s fifth two-man bobsled victory this season, and his third with Langton as his brakeman. USA-1 was the first crew to take a run in the competition, and the duo set the pace with a start time of 5.08 seconds for a record-breaking finish time of 51.78 seconds. Holcomb and Langton had a lead of 0.22 seconds over the field heading into the final heat.

“It builds confidence when you’re sitting in the lead,” Holcomb said. “A lot of people were critical of us last week, and we wanted to come back and show that we’re not out of contention.”

Holcomb and Langton posted a second start of 5.13 for a run of 51.94 to extend the lead by another 0.01 seconds. They claimed gold with a total time of 1:43.72, which was especially meaningful for Holcomb. He took a risk and debuted the BMW prototype two-man bobsled in Igls last season, and finished 14th.

“Last year we debuted the prototype and didn’t do well,” Holcomb said. “It’s nice to come back and redeem ourselves. We’ve spent a lot of time this season tweaking the sled and we showed today that it can be really fast. I’m excited.”

Swiss athletes Beat Hefit and Thomas Amrhein finished second with a total time of 1:43.95. Rusiaans Alexander Zubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov posted a combined time of 1:44.00 to finish third.

Cory Butner (Yucaipa, Calif.) and Chuck Berkeley (Walnut Creek, Calif.) tied Canadians Chris Spring and Jesse Lumsden for ninth with a total time of 1:44.36. The U.S. crew posted starts of 5.14 and 5.15 seconds for runs of 52.22 and 52.14 seconds, respectively.

Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.) paired with Andreas Drbal (Belmont, Calif.) for the first time ever in their careers. The duo clocked start times of 5.15 and 5.16 seconds for runs of 52.53 and 52.42 seconds to finish 15th.

The U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation will nominate its 2014 U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team tomorrow evening following the women’s bobsled and men’s four-man bobsled World Cup races in Igls. The 2014 U.S. Olympic Skeleton Team will be named today.

About the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation
The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, based in Lake Placid, N.Y., is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton in the United States. The USBSF would like to thank its sponsors, suppliers and contributors for their support: BMW of North America, Century 21 Real Estate, CEVA Logistics, Under Armour, Kampgrounds of America, Boomerang Carnets, 24 Hour Fitness, KBC Helmets, Eastern European Distribution Company, Azad Watches, Latta USA, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Autism Speaks, Park City Lodging, Inc., EDAS/Ripxx, UberSense, Tesa Tape and Ferris Mfg. Corp. For more information, please visit the USBSF website at http://bobsled.teamusa.org.